Tucson

An extremely testing 27-hole spread built by Jack Nicklaus in 1984 to satisfy his own lofty standards of "challenging" play, picturesque La Paloma appears to have half the grass and twice the trouble of a normal course, with numerous forced carries over dry washes required. Some of the sharper edges around the greens of the club’s core 18 have been softened of late to enhance playability, but La Paloma, a semi-private club carved into desert foothills and attached to a Westin resort, remains one of the state’s toughest tracks from the tips at 7,088 yards. Need proof? The slope rating from the black tees is a whopping 154.